california days

by stephen on April 25, 2012

The weather here in Los Angeles is so perfect! I’m definitely far away from where I could see my breath in Amsterdam’s “spring”. I enjoyed a restful morning knitting on the porch of my friends’ house on Mount Washington.

Not a bad view.

I’m working on a new design prototype with some delicious DK weight cashmere from Lotus Yarns.

I’m also sporting my very first pair of Fluevog shoes. Thanks to Ysolda for sucking me into the Fluevog vortex.

I don’t wear a lot of purple, but these beauties were too good to pass up. They even match the yarn I got from The Little Knittery yesterday, how perfect is that?

The yarn is Noro Shiraito, an incredibly soft and fluffy cashmere, angora, wool blend.

I’m headed to San Francisco in a couple days to visit A Verb for Keeping Warm, but when I get back I’ll have another Top-Down Shawl Workshop Tuesday in L.A. which still has a few spots left. The Little Knittery is a very cute shop and I’ll have my suitcase of samples to show off and the newest Book Three to sign as well.

I’ll leave you with a few choice photos of my new feline friend named Shopping Cart or Winkelwagen for you Dutch folks.



Shopping Cart makes me want to knit a sweater to match him.

{ 4 comments }

Springtime

by stephen on April 24, 2012

I’m in California on my spring break during the next two weeks. I just arrived into L.A. last night and happened to sit right next to a knitter while waiting for the plane in Amsterdam. There really must be some magical energetic field that draws knitters together. She was working on a cute baby sweater after visiting the Netherlands from Iowa with her husband. I got a lot of knitting done during the 8-hour plane ride.

I made my California trip a bit longer which means I’m visiting San Francisco for the first time! I’ll be at A Verb for Keeping Warm this Friday, 12-2pm and Saturday, 2:30-3:30pm signing books and I’ll also have a bunch of knit samples with me. Please come say hello if you are in the area! The shop’s website is here.

And here are some of the many samples I’m bringing…




I also updated my events page here, which includes information on another Icelandic knitting adventure this fall.

{ 4 comments }

Los Angeles Workshop/Trunk Show

April 18, 2012

I’ll be at The Little Knittery in L.A. Tuesday, May 1st teaching my Top Down Shawl Workshop from 4-7pm and signing books from 7-9pm. I’m bringing lots of samples so you can come see all the new designs in person! You can find all the workshop information here. I’m also looking forward to another teaching [...]

Read the full article →

Contemporary Irish Knits

September 15, 2011

I met Carol Feller aka Stolen Stitches for the first time this summer at Knit Nation in London. I got to talk to her a bit about her new book Contemporary Irish Knits. Then, I impatiently waited for the book to release while I admired the photos that were gradually added to Ravelry at the [...]

Read the full article →

Knit Whatever You Want.

September 12, 2011

This evening Ysolda and I declared that it’s knit whatever you want night. I’ve been knitting all summer on designs for Westknits Book Three and I’m already finishing a batch of other individual designs in addition to working on a whole new collection. Phew! Knitting is always fun for me, but it’s nice to give [...]

Read the full article →

Shaping Shawls Review

September 9, 2011

I recently got the chance to look at Anna Dalvi’s (Knit & Knag Designs) new book, Shaping Shawls. The new books contains 10 lace shawls utilizing different shaping techniques. Now, I’m not a huge lace knitter myself, but I did just cast off a new lace scarf and I enjoy my increases and decreases a [...]

Read the full article →

Garter Tab Cast On

July 31, 2011

I use the garter tab cast on for most of my top down shawl designs like Daybreak, Herbivore, Akimbo, Pogona, and the 2011 Mystery Shawl: Earth & Sky. The stitch counts in the photo tutorial below represent the exact same instructions for the beginnings of Transatlantic, Pogona, and Earth & Sky. You can use the [...]

Read the full article →

Spectra and Iceland Tour!

June 2, 2011

I thought I’d hop back on the blog to introduce a new summer pattern and share some upcoming news. Spectra is a lightweight scarf knit with two skeins of fingering weight yarn. I chose the iridescent and drapey Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light combined with Noro Silk Garden Sock. Short row shaping creates the dramatically curved [...]

Read the full article →

on my needles

November 13, 2010

The fall chill is certainly in the air and despite the epic amount of wooly accessories that litter my apartment I continue to knit more and more. Every so often a pattern comes along that I absolutely must knit. Recently, that pattern happened to be Cirilia’s beautiful new cardigan, Aidez. I love the cables she [...]

Read the full article →

London Recap

November 2, 2010

I just got back from my first visit to London and I have to say it was incredible! I only made a weekend trip, but still saw many areas of the city thanks to my friend/tour guide Sam. Of course we managed to visit a couple yarn shops, one of them being Loop in Islington, [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries